INDIANAPOLIS – It began with torrents of abuse showering down on him, for what was characterized as a blasphemous omission of Marcus Camby in the closing minutes of a Game 1 loss in Miami. It continued with widespread declarations that he was getting outreached by master Pat Riley. It ended with him standing alone, the rare sight of a smile creasing his face and his fist raised into the air. Jeff Van Gundy had somehow navigated the Knicks past an-

other playoff crisis, despite himself, it would seem.

There should come a time when Van Gundy is not an issue, merely the coach. That time is now. As he steers the Knicks into tonight’s Eastern Conference Final opener against the Pacers, he should be afforded the respect he’s earned. The arrow, of course, is pointed upward at the moment, coming off the magnificence of the seven-game triumph over the Heat. Whether the Knicks return to the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year, whether they beat or fall to the Pacers, whether they advance, only to get clobbered by the Lacers, this much is clear: Van Gundy, charisma be damned, gives the Knicks an edge.

The evidence is overwhelming. There are times when he appears distant from his players, when it seems they have tuned him out. As the battle lines took shape against the Heat, it took him more than a week, after nagging and scolding about woeful rebounding, to get the message across, but when he did, the Knicks won the board war not once, but twice with elimination staring them in the face. He ripped into his team, not any one player in particular, and achieved the desired result.

His handling and sharing of the point-guard position proved to be a difference-maker against the Heat. Van Gundy’s deft touch produced magically, as Charlie Ward was a huge factor in Game 2 and the reason why the Knicks won Game 4. Rather than be tempted to tilt his rotation toward the hot hand and give the ball to Ward, Van Gundy stayed the course and was rewarded when Childs, who accumulated a mere 21 points in the first six games, saved the day in Game 7, erupting with no prior warning for 15 points, including 13 straight when Miami flirted with taking command.

For the third time in as many years, Van Gundy took a team into Miami and exited having ousted Riley from the playoffs. Following last season’s memorable finish, when Allan Houston’s shot bounced up and in, Riley penned his former assistant a note, attempting to soothe what had become an uneasy relationship. “You had a play,” Riley wrote, praising Van Gundy’s calm in the frantic final seconds.

Fast-forward to Sunday, when the desperate Heat relied on Clearance Weatherspoon for the critical shot, perhaps the last desired option. If Riley had a play, it never materialized, but his coaching greatness is secure. Woe unto Van Gundy if Kurt Thomas had taken and missed the shot that sent the Knicks home.

Now come the Pacers and impish Reggie Miller, a playoff opponent and villain for the Knicks for the sixth time in the past eight years, with legend Larry Bird set to leave the coaching profession when Indiana is through. Bird will lay into his players – Rik Smits is a popular target – and produce snappy one-liners. Van Gundy will offer his often dry, detailed analysis, almost always refuting a basketball-related observation that does not completely jibe with his own, a harmless, annoying habit. Where Red Holzman grew to be beloved and Riley was revered, Van Gundy’s existence rests somewhere between tolerated and appreciated.

If form holds and the Knicks sacrifice tonight’s opener to mentally and physically make the leap from the Heat to the Pacers, Van Gundy’s methods will undoubtedly be open for debate, once again. It is so tempting and silly to make instant evaluations after each game, to give Van Gundy a thumbs-up or thumbs-down based on that night’s result.

As the Miami series flip-flopped, so too did the grading of Van Gundy’s worth, with the critiques a mixture of reaches and foolishness. It was his job to find better shots for Houston, even though Houston himself chastised himself for his passive play. Van Gundy’s own stubbornness prevented him from the logical moves of using John Wallace to spark the offense or Chris Dudley to help with Alonzo Mourning on defense, even though the seven-man rotation never showed signs of running out of gas. Whenever Patrick Ewing stumbled, it was Van Gundy’s blind loyalty to Ewing the Relic that kept the Knicks down, even though Ewing defied his age and his critics with several more vintage playoff performances.

So it went.

Van Gundy lambasted his club for its lousy rebounding. The Knicks responded with a show of force. Van Gundy made it clear Mourning would not be a low-post monster, rolling the dice that Miami’s fringe players could not beat him from the perimeter. In the end, it was Riley and the Heat left to shame themselves with their childish conspiracy theories that the referees were cheating to ensure a Knicks victory.

On cue, Van Gundy yesterday was armed with the facts. After a grueling, incredibly close and tense seven games, the Knicks shot 170 free throws, the Heat 169. “It’s very hard for people to give credit to another team when they lose, it’s always some external force,” Van Gundy said.

It’s hard for many to see Van Gundy for what he is. He’s the coach, not the issue.